How to Kill an eMac

So I have a sort of odd question... how do I induce a hardware failure in an eMac (without taking a hammer to it)?

(background: my mother wants to get a new computer - a macbook(pro), but my parents won't budge until their ancient 800MHz eMac bites the dust. she sort of hinted that if I could get the eMac to stop working, she'd be appreciative. I know, I know, not great logic... but I digress)

So, is there any good way to stress the hard drive? Make the processor overheat? Something? I know, this is cruel and unusual punishment to a trusty old dinosaur of a mac, but my mother (and father) do want a brand new shiny macbook!

It just breaks my heart to think about willfully killing a beautiful piece of machinery like the emac. Still one of my favorite macs Apple ever made for some reason...... though the 1.42 version not the 800 mhz.

if your grandparents aren't tech savvy, and aren't the type to try to get it fixed, then just pop the ram out. When you show them it doesn't work, and then get a new one, just put the ram back in.

Click to expand...

This.

You shouldn't wilfully destroy it. Then that way you could donate it or sell it afterwards too. I'll chime is as well that the eMac/white iMac G3 were possibly the best looking machines apple ever made. I haven't seen anything come close to the white G3s apart from possibly the new mac mini.

I'm not bent on actually killing it... yet. But it's nice to know there are many ways to do the deed. So far, killing the GPU with ATIccelerator seems like the cleanest solution (if I go through with this, I do want it not working, unfortunately).

To some of the later posters... take a chill pill. I do in fact have my own computer... my signature shows I have a MacBook Pro (which has been my trusty companion since June 2006).

This eMac isn't my computer, and I only touch it when I'm upgrading something (RAM, OS, etc.). The only reason I even made this thread was because my mother hinted that she'd like a new computer, but wouldn't get one as long as the eMac was still alive... so I thought I'd see what the MacRumors community could come up with! I know it's immoral to kill a perfectly good computer, especially when it runs flawlessly for 7 years. It's just so tempting... I might do it. Any other thoughts and suggestions are welcome, and I'll keep you updated as to my thought process and decision

My dad works on computers all day, and when he gets home he doesn't even want to look at them. Because he didn't use the family computer, he didn't know how much we were suffering with a 10 year old PC. My mom also told me that if anything may "accidently" happen to our computer, we'd have to get a new one (I got the hint). What I did was get a virus on it (not easily possible since your trying to kill a mac) and covered all the vents on it while using cpu and gpu intensive applications, I used DVD rippers and ran a few games. Long story short, I started to feel the heat and the computer turned off and refused to turn back on.

We got a new computer, and I got to take apart the old computer and see all the components and how they work together.

causing death to a eMac is murder , and murder is considered the most serious form of homicide, in which one person kills a eMac intending to cause death or intending to cause serious injury (originally termed malice aforethought even though it requires neither malice nor premeditation). Following the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty?) , the mandatory sentence is having to live with a intel p2 processor powered pc running windows 95 for life

so now you know the rulez
you want to keep your macbook pro then let the eMac live , but if you fancy having the rest of your life being forced to work on a win 95 pentium 2 pc then go ahead

As someone stated above, you can just pop out the ram and show them that it wont work. You also have the option of removing the ram, then damaging the ram, and pop it back in. Then after you get a new computer, you can go to a computer store, purchase the correct ram for it, switch out the ram, and show your parents that it works and say "OMG IT WORKS! Can I sell it and keep the money?" Of course, you do not have to follow my advice/idea, but if you do, I am not responsible for any damage whatsoever.

causing death to a eMac is murder , and murder is considered the most serious form of homicide, in which one person kills a eMac intending to cause death or intending to cause serious injury (originally termed malice aforethought even though it requires neither malice nor premeditation). Following the Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty?) , the mandatory sentence is having to live with a intel p2 processor powered pc running windows 95 for life

so now you know the rulez
you want to keep your macbook pro then let the eMac live , but if you fancy having the rest of your life being forced to work on a win 95 pentium 2 pc then go ahead

Personally, while I understand your willingness to want to get them a new machine, I don't believe in destroying it - because there are always those who can't afford decent computers, collectors, somebody always looking out for deals on semi-modern computers that are still functional.

I would suggest taking the ram out and saying it is dead, that way no damage is done, and then you could also sell it later on Craigslist saying that "computer won't boot up, probably simple fix" and then even possibly get some money back in return.

MacRumors attracts a broad audience
of both consumers and professionals interested in
the latest technologies and products. We also boast an active community focused on
purchasing decisions and technical aspects of the iPhone, iPod, iPad, and Mac platforms.